Eviction Plan Reignites Fight Over Ellis Act : Santa Monica: The 178-unit apartment building would be the largest property removed from the city’s rental stock. A rent board official calls evictions a ‘death knell for Santa Monica.’

In response to a threat by the owner of a 178-unit beachfront apartment building to evict nearly 400 tenants under the Ellis Act, the Santa Monica City Council and the city’s rent control board reignited criticism of the state law.

The evictions would make the apartment building the largest property removed from rental status under the 1986 Ellis Act, which allows landlords to get out of the rental business and makes the evictions legal.

Some tenants and rent board officials question whether the intent of the action is real or an attempt by the building’s owner to gain leverage in lawsuits they have filed against him.

If the evictions are successful, “it will be the death knell for Santa Monica,” rent board chairwoman Susan Packer Davis said in an interview. “Every elected official in this city should form a united front to go to the state Legislature to say this Ellis Act is a monstrosity. It has created a horrible crisis.”

Mayor Dennis Zane reacted to the eviction plan by recommending that the city lobbyist be directed to seek changes in the law from the state Legislature. The City Council approved the request at Tuesday’s meeting.

“This egregious example of the abuse of the legislation ought to prompt a reaction from the council,” Zane said.

The council also directed the city staff to return as quickly as possible with a recommendation to increase the city relocation fees landlords must pay evicted tenants. Under a city relocation law, landlords are required to pay evicted tenants between $2,000 and $3,000, depending on the size of the unit. Since the Ellis Act went into effect, 919 units in Santa Monica have been or will be removed from the city’s housing stock. Prior to the 178-unit Sea Castle Apartments, the largest rental property removed under Ellis was a 28-unit building, according to rent board administrator Mary Ann Yurkonis.

The rent board will hold a special meeting Feb. 26 to discuss the effect of the Ellis Act on the city’s housing stock and on tenants.

Some tenants and city officials say the owner of the Sea Castle may be using the Ellis Act as leverage to settle disputes over rent.

The rent board is suing the owner over excessive rent levels. Meanwhile, the owner of the building is suing tenants to collect what he says is past-due rent, and the tenants are countersuing over the rent level. The city previously had filed complaints against the owner for failing to install fire sprinklers and alarms in the nine-story building, and tenants had unsuccessfully sued over parking spaces that were taken away when some tenants withheld part of their rent.

Neither Robert Braun, the principal owner of the building, nor Braun’s attorney, David Shell, could be reached for comment.

However, Sonya Bekoff Molho, an attorney representing some Sea Castle tenants, said that Shell last week walked out of a settlement conference after it was apparent that tenants would not budge in the dispute over rent the tenants had withheld while the courts decided the matter.

That dispute involved a 1989 court ruling that called for rolling back rents to 1987 levels under the city’s rent control law. Because the federal Housing and Urban Development Department provided funding for the building, it fell under HUD standards before 1987, and rents were $100 to $200 higher than the city’s level. Under the city’s schedule, rents for the single and one-bedroom apartments in the building range from $300 to $500.

Molho said Shell “made some noises that ‘If I can’t get the rents, then I’ll just Ellis,’ and walked out of the courthouse across the parking lot to the rent control office in City Hall,” Molho said.

“This is a gross misuse of the Ellis Act. Ellis was not intended to let landlords threaten tenants to be overcharged month after month,” Molho said. “This is a retaliatory eviction, which is illegal under state law.”

The city lobbyist, at Zane’s recommendation, will try to get the state Legislature to amend the Ellis Act to exempt housing that was previously under HUD regulations.

But whether or not the eviction filing is a ploy, Davis said the Ellis Act continues to represent a threat to affordable housing in Santa Monica.

“I hope this is just a settlement tactic, but just the fact that the evictions are available under Ellis disturbs me,” she said. “Given the housing crisis, this is incomprehensible.”